Lazard: Online games now 25 percent of the worldwide game market

Lazard Capital's Colin Sebastian reckons that online games will generate upwards of $11 billion of revenue this year, thereby making up 25 per cent of total industry earnings.

"We estimate that online video games will generate more than $11 billion in revenues this year, up from $3 billion in 2005, and account for roughly 25% of industry game sales worldwide," said Sebastian.

"In this respect, we continue to believe that the Internet is emerging as an important growth driver and content platform, weaving together communication, information, commerce and entertainment.

"In addition, 2009 may be remembered as the year in which the pace of change in media consumption accelerated, while 2010 and 2011 may bring improved monetization and mass market adoption of web-based applications and digital content, in particular interactive entertainment."

Thanks, Gama.

In other analyst news: Webush Morgan's Michael Pachter said earlier today that he believes the US will see a 50% decline in hardware sales for May. NPD results are in this Thursday.